The NDLEA has made two major busts in the last week. They have just arrested a Pastor based in Lagos for trying to smuggle drugs into South Africa. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency apprehended the suspect at the Lagos international airport.
Few weeks after a Lagos-based pastor was arrested for smuggling narcotics to South Africa at the Lagos Airport, officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) at the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu, have arrested another Lagos pastor over drug trafficking.
NDLEA said the suspect, Mr. Daniel Lanre Akintola, 43, was found with 1.978kg of heroin, concealed in a false bottom of his luggage.
It also said another suspect, Mr. Onwuegbusi Tochukwu Victor, 48, was also found with 51.5kg of ephedrine inside his luggage.
NDLEA commander at the Enugu Airport, Mr. Nsikak-Abasi Udoh, said that the 43-year-old pastor wanted to abandon his luggage at the arrival hall for fear of arrest.
“Mr. Daniel Lanre Akintola unlawfully carried 1.978kg of heroin in his luggage while returning from Entebbe, a major town in Central Uganda. He wanted to abandon the luggage but we detected his intention. The drug was carefully concealed in a false bottom of his luggage. The second suspect is a businessman who had parcels of ephedrine weighing 51.5kg, which he wanted to smuggle to Maputo, Mozambique. The suspects are being investigated” Udoh stated.
Akintola who claimed ownership of the bag containing heroin said that he was returning from a pastor’s conference. In his statement
Daniel said that “I am a pastor with Gospel Faith Mission International, Olayemi Assembly, Ipaja Lagos. I attended a minister’s conference in Uganda. This bag, where heroin was found is my bag but I am a pastor and not a drug trafficker.”